Luxury
VOLUME 1 - ISSUE 1 FALL 2021
What defines a luxury pool?
Discussing luxury pools with rising star Lance Irby
Featured
News & Stories • • • • • •
Dave Penton, Builder & Mentor The New Plus Pool in NYC Lee Russell Tells It Straight Chris Bowen on Shortages Best Software for Pool Companies Southern Style - Outdoor Living
Industry Leaders Chuck Baumann
Carecraft Member Creative Environments
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Editor’s
LETTER
P
ool Magazine is something new that the industry hasn’t seen. Our trade publication offers a fresh new perspective on the world of pools, spas, and outdoor living. That’s the theme of our first edition, a new way of looking at print publications. Pool Magazine is primarily a digital publication and reaches over 35,000 pool & spa professionals with our weekly distribution. We’ve closely tied in our digital publication to our print magazine to offer you featurette content you can further explore with your mobile device. In the wake of Covid, we’ve all had to become familiar with QR codes. Simply ordering in a restaurant these days will involve using one on your smartphone. With that said, it’s an incredibly convenient technology which allows us to feature more content in our magazine that immediately immerses you into our online platform. Consequently, that was our aim all along to bring you the best featured pool content in a stylized new format that you can enjoy online and offline. Pool Magazine is proud to share the space in the industry with other notable trade publications and aims to be your new trusted source for up-to-the minute news on what is going on in the industry. Coupled with our new mobile app (available on Google & Apple) which features articles, podcasts, videos, and syndicated content from some of the brightest minds in the pool world, Pool Magazine is a full-featured platform to keep your finger on the pulse of the industry. We hope you enjoy the first edition of Pool Magazine which features articles highlighting both well-established pioneers of the pool world as well as up-and-comers that are rapidly making a name for themselves. The featured cover photo of our magazine exemplifies our commitment to highlighting the next generation that will lead and help propel this industry. Joe Trusty Editor
Founder, CEO & Editor Joe Trusty
Contributing Editor Marcus Packer
In-House Photographer Jimi Smith
President, Associate-Editor Marianne Trusty
Contributing Editor Alise Everton
Art Director Tabitha Sorenson
Director of Marketing/Sales Carol Gigliotti
Production Editor Sarah Wambua
Op-Editorialists Paolo Benedetti Grant Smith
POOL MAGAZINE - PO BOX 278 - Pilot Hill, CA 95664 www.poolmagazine.com | info@poolmagazine.com POOL MAGAZINE - VOL 1, ISSUE 1
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Table of
CONTENTS 06
DAVE PENTON BUILDER & MENTOR
One-on-One with Industry leader and Co-Host of Ask The Masters, Dave Penton.
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PLUS POOL DESIGNER DISCUSSES CONCEPT
We go in-depth with the designer of the floating pool planned for NYC’s East River.
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LUXURY POOLS WITH LANCE IRBY
What constitutes a luxury pool design? Rising star Irby, says that answer varies.
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TWO HARD SEASONS LEE RUSSELL
Lee Russell describes the challenges his company has faced the last two seasons.
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OPINION EDITORIALS
Navigating Legal - Paolo Benedetti [pg 32] ASA & ACI Rules - Grant Smith [pg 33]
34
SAY “NO” TO DOING FREE POOL DESIGNS
There is a movement going on in the pool industry to do away with free designs.
38
BEST BUSINESS SOFTWARE OF ‘21
Find out all the best software the pros are using to manage their pool companies.
20
PRICES & DEMAND CHRIS BOWEN
With eyes on the ground level, Bowen talks price increases and Covid demand.
22
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CHEMICAL OUTLOOK 2021 REPORT
We co-hosted a Town Hall with Talking Pools podcast discussing chlorine prices.
SOUTHERN STYLE LUXURY BACKYARDS
Luxury pool builder Southern Poolscapes walks us through what’s hot in the South.
26
BEST AUTOMATIC POOL CLEANERS
Best of 2021 - A look at the top rated robot cleaners voted by consumers & pros.
28
THE MODERN POOL CHUCK BAUMANN
Industry veteran Chuck Baumann helped to usher in the modern pool concept.
POOL MAGAZINE - VOL 1, ISSUE 1
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Builder, Mentor, Professor
DAVE PENTON BY JOE TRUSTY Photos: Berlyn Photography, Pool Chasers
Dave Penton is probably one of the most recognizable voices in the pool industry. As a Co-Host of the Ask The Masters Podcast, and Professor at Watershape University, Dave has been a mentor to countless builders in the field of pool construction.
A
projects have been featured in The Robb Report, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Luxury Pools, and now we are privileged to be able to highlight and profile his incredible story and body of work in Pool Magazine.
Penton has been involved in a number of high profile pools over the years. His construction
Dave Penton has earned a reputation as one of the leading pool builders in the industry. Penton first got started in the pool industry back in 1992. His company at the time which was called Krystal Klear Pools, originally focused on pool & spa
certified PhD in Pool Construction, if there was such a thing – David Penton is pretty much omnipresent in the pool industry. Here is a man who is involved at such a high level in this field and has given back so much to the industry over the past few years. It’s tough to discern exactly how he finds time for it all.
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Dave Penton is a true mentor in our industry, finding time to Co-Host ‘Ask The Masters’ and teach other pool builders. maintenance and repair services. Receiving his state contractors license, the company continued to work on bigger and bigger projects. Dave began developing a reputation as one of the leading service providers in Orange County for his residential and commercial work. His company, Krystal Klear Pools continued to grow until he received his C-53 pool construction license in 2003. Penton decided to sell his service business to focus on pool construction full time and re-branded the company as Fluid Dynamics. His first major project was a $100,000 remodel. A pool builder friend of his guided him through his initial foray into the industry and helped him learn the ropes. Penton committed himself to learning as much as he could, as quickly as he could and became a voracious student. Penton credits studying with organizations like Genesis with providing the stepping stones he needed to becoming one of the industries high-end builders. Fast forward to 2021, his company Fluid Dynamics, has been responsible for numerous high-end pool construction projects all over Los Angeles and Orange County. Dave’s body of work includes the type of complex restoration projects that only the leaders in the industry at the pinnacle of their career get to work on. Penton recently worked an incredible restoration project at The Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades and another restoration
of the fountain at the historic Century Towers property. Projects like an over-the-top 26 by 100 foot pool in Bel Air are all in a days work for this master pool builder. With a laundry list of high-profile inground pool projects, Penton has worked with a veritable who’s who in the pool industry including top names in construction and design like Jimmy Reed, Shane LeBlanc, and many others. As one of the leading experts in the country, Dave has found time to give back to the pool industry in so many ways over the years. His transition now to mentor has seen him function as an instructor for both the Genesis program, and now Watershape University where he teaches today. We asked Dave how he finds time for it all, and what the transition has been like to becoming a mentor for other builders “I couldn’t have gotten to where I am without people doing the same thing for me.” said Penton who claims to find it immensely rewarding to be able to give back in the form of imparting his expertise on other builders. “That rhythm has always been established since the beginning of my career for learning or being able to carve out time for giving back” said Penton.
Read the entire article... POOL MAGAZINE - VOL 1, ISSUE 1
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Dong-Ping Wong Discusses
+POOL DESIGN We go one-on-one with Dong-Ping Wong, designer of the floating pool planned for NYC’s East River and find out what Plus Pool is all about. BY JOE TRUSTY Photos: Provided by Plus Pool
W
e report on our fair share of unique pool concepts at Pool Magazine. None so far this year, with the exception of possibly the Sky Pool in London, has managed to capture people’s imagination the way this project has. Plus Pool is a unique floating pool concept design that is shaped like a plus sign (+). The project has been discussed for a long time. For the past few months photos of the pool concept have begun circulating on social media once again. After years and years of pushback from the city, the Plus Pool project finally got the green light. The 285,000 gallon floating pool will have a permanent address in the East River. The minimalist pool design is the brainchild of four designers. Dong-Ping Wong and Oana Stanescu of the architecture firm Family and Archie Lee Coates IV and Jeff Franklin of the design firm PlayLab. The group originally conceived of the idea for Plus Pool back in 2010. Wong, a New York state licensed architect with a Masters Degree in Architecture from Columbia University, first conceived of the
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project with his friends one hot summer night roughly ten years ago.. “Basically the whole idea is to find a way to swim in natural water around New York City,” said Wong, “In this case East River water, which as you would imagine is not what you would think of as the cleanest water. So how could we swim in that safely?” asked Wong, a question we wanted to know the answer to as well. The question itself has many skeptics wondering how designers plan to pull it off. Wong explained the basic premise behind what he plans to do. “In concept, the filtration system is a big strainer. Filtration is built into the walls of the pools. Water literally flows through the walls of the pool itself into the basin.” said Wong. The Plus Pool’s filtration system will act as a giant strainer filtering over a million gallons of East River water each day. “In normal operation we expect to filter over a million gallons of water a day, but in comparison to the entire volume of the East River it’s really a drop in the bucket.” explained Wong.
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“The filtration is a combination of technologies we’ve already found in place for other uses,” said Wong, “Industrial water waste treatment, municipal uses. We’re not really cleaning it to drinking water standards. We don’t really need to. It’s a combination of textiles, ultra-filtration membranes, some very rudimentary filtration as well.” explained Wong. “The basic idea of a Brita filter is that it filters water in stages from the largest materials down to the smallest and what you’re left with is a pretty clean piece of water you can swim in.” said Wong. “Our biggest concern is bacteria.” explained Wong “There’s I forget how many numbers of different parameters we’re looking at. There’s bacteria counts, pH, oxygen levels, color… but bacteria is the main one. Obviously the reason being that the coliform count is what the Department of Health and the state looked at as the main measure of cleanliness of any body of water that you’re
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swimming in.” explained Wong. “In New York state there’s something known as a ‘Bathing Beach’ which is a man made pool. There’s a coliform count that we try to get under. I believe it’s 35 cfu’s per hundred million for bathing beaches.” said Wong, as he explained the requirements his filtration system needs to meet in order to adhere to state health guidelines. “We’re moving water through a series of geotextiles.” said Wong, “It’s really just smaller and smaller pore sizes that you’re passively passing water through and essentially all that’s doing is capturing particles.”
Read the entire article...
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lieve that there is noinsuch as good design, there’swill only good design for need from their clients orderthing to create a pool the clients love. want.” a specific person.” Wiseman teaches a GENESIS® course called “Mind ReadClients” thattoteaches pool how designers how to get “Asing theYour designer, I need understand they are going to the use information the space, they Kate Wiseman, MLA, Principal Landscape Designer for Sage Outdoor need from their clients in order to create a pool the clients will how many people do we need to get into this space, is it being usedlove. by small
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Designsorand faculty agrees. “I’m in theIt’scamp of on children not,GENESIS® do they care more member, about looks or functionality. on and “As the designer, I need to understand how they are going to use the designers believe that there is no such thing as good design, space, and on,” she who explains. how many people do wefor need to get into this space, is it being usedaby small there’s only good design a specific person.” Wiseman teaches children or not, do they care more about looks or functionality. It’s on and on GENESIS® courselikes called to “Mind Reading Your Clients” that teaches pool Irikat also ask big-picture questions and on,” she explains. designers to get theclients information from their clients in whenhow meeting forthey theneed first time. order to create a pool the clients will love.
“What thislikes going contribute to your life? Irikatisalso toto ask big-picture questions What is it going add? What kind oftime. value when meeting clients for first “As the designer, I need toto understand howthe they are going to use do youhow want to getdoout of this “What is this going toneed contribute tospace, youris itlife? the space, many people we to getenvironment into this being used by small children to or not, do they care more looks or orWhat this space?” is it going add? What kindabout of value doalso youlikes want to get out of questions this environment Irikat to ask big-picture when or this space?” meeting clients for the first time. “What is this going to contribute to your life? What is it going to add? What kind of value do you want to get out of this environment or this space?”
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And he does mean the entire outdoor space—not just what you want from your pool, but from everything else you’ll be doing around the pool, whether that’s hosting friends and family or cooking or relaxing. Once the functionality part is determined, it’s time to discuss aesthetics. Wiseman and Irikat both ask clients to find pictures of things they think are beautiful, or that they have an emotional connection to. “You can give me a picture of a kitchen if you love that kitchen,” Wiseman jokes. “An initial client mistake is that they show the designer scope-of-work elements, like a waterfall. No, no, you can just tell me you want a waterfall. I need to see five things you think are gorgeous.” “I always ask them to pull pictures of something they connect with visually,” Irikat says. “A lot of times, they connect with something and they start describing the feeling that they have: this makes me happy, this makes me relaxed, this makes me feel like I’m in a sanctuary. All these emotions are an important part of the design process.” This may seem like a big time commitment before any groundbreaking even takes place, but Wiseman assures you that it will be well worth it. “The time investment on the part of the client early pays back in tenfold during the project,” she explains. “Just give me those couple of hours to really get to know you and what you need and then I can roll with it. You’ll end up with something that is surprisingly personalized and you’ll love it.” “Good design has to deliver on the experience as a whole,” says Irikat. “You’re not in the pool 24/7, but you can be outside that pool looking at that pool. If you create the proper space to really take in that visual of the pool, you appreciate it so much more and you’re going to love it a lot more.”
“Especially for the luxury buyers, I’m always startled at how much someone is willing to pay for the construction of the pool and how hesitant they are to pay for the design,” Wiseman says. “It is such a small percentage of the overall budget to have a designer involved. And the payoff is huge. Having a designer involved does not automatically mean it’s going to be more money or more than you wanted to spend. It just means that they’re going to take all of your ideas and make them better.” To find a credentialed pool designer, Wiseman and Irikat recommend visiting the GENESIS® website, genesis.phta.org, and looking at the list of Certified Expert Pool Builders and Certified Master Pool Builders. These are professionals who have earned thirdparty certifications after completing coursework in construction, design, and engineering, including Irikat’s “Color Theory and Its Application” course. Certified individuals have a strong foundation and understanding of design principles that can take clients’ pools from satisfactory to a masterpiece. “You can get a pool without a designer,” says Wiseman, “but you can’t get an exceptional pool without a designer.” Irikat emphasizes, “You can’t get an experience without a designer.”
GENESIS® is a company of the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance.
“I think what’s luxurious to one person, may not be to another. I think it has to be something that is very fulfilling to a client, that brings a level of satisfaction of elegance. It’s something they desired or are proud of, it’s a combination of probably all those things”
Luxury Pool Design With
LANCE IRBY BY JOE TRUSTY Photos: Jovan Valdez
Pool Builder: Premier Pools & Spas of Sacramento Home Builder: Sheba Development, LLC
T
he world of luxury pools is a rigid dichotomy between design and function. For average homeowners it’s often difficult to achieve a balance between what’s appealing to the eye and what our wallets can afford. Quite often luxury homeowners tend to fall in love with what they’ve seen on Pinterest. During the dream building phase, money is no object. For some that holds true well into the building phase of turning that dream into a reality. No one is more familiar with helping homeowners capture their grand vision for a high-end custom luxury pool than Lance Irby, one of the lead designers for Premier Pools & Spas of Sacramento.
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Recently we had the chance to catch up with this rising star in the pool world.Irby first got his start in the industry ironically enough when he bumped into Keith Harbeck, the owner of the Sacramento branch of Premier Pools & Spas. Harbeck was a member of the gym that Irby was a Sales Manager at the time. “He’d always whisper in my ear to come sell pools for him, I never took it too seriously.” said Irby. Irby who is now entering his 9th year as a designer says that he’s found his niche. “Whatever life throws at me, I just feel like the pool industry is a great fit for my personality. It’s dynamic, it’s always different, it’s always changing. It’s creative and I love it.” said Irby. Irby certainly seems to have discovered a dormant and hidden talent for creating luxurious over the top backyard resorts. Like many other professionals in the pool industry looking to further and expand on their education, Irby has recently become SWD Registered with Genesis. “It’s given me the ability to get outside of my comfort zone and become a better designer, a better builder.” explained Irby.
What Constitutes a Luxury Pool? There’s No Black & White Answer.
When discussing what constitutes a luxury pool the definition always varies. Irby said that as a top design consultant for highend custom pools, the vision for a luxury pool is very personal and unique to the homeowner. Creating a luxury pool for a client does not have a minimum or maximum budget. There are no guidelines that say a pool needs to have certain features or amenities or cost a certain price in order to qualify as a custom luxury pool.
Read the entire article... POOL MAGAZINE - VOL 1, ISSUE 1
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Two Hard Seasons
LEE RUSSELL BY JOE TRUSTY Photos: Jimi Smith Photography
B
aton Rouge pool builder Lee Russell and his family have been building pools for three generations. As such, they’ve garnered a lot of respect in the industry as well as within their own community. In Baton Rouge, Russell Pool Company has established themselves as one of the top pool construction firms in town. Although Russell’s expertise in pool construction is in higher demand than ever before, the last two years certainly haven’t been without its challenges. Simply finishing the pools while waiting for essential materials has been a series of hurdles for the Baton Rouge builder who explained to us that just about every single material that he orders is taking weeks longer than it normally would to arrive. “As far as materials go, I think it’s worse today than it was a year ago,” said Russell, “I’ve got Poolcorp lagging behind getting their orders in
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from manufacturers for equipment. “I’ve got one pool where I’ve got the coping on but the deck is not finished, but they’re swimming,” said Russell. “We get a lot of pressure from our clients. Something that used to take me 6-8 weeks to finish now I’m looking at 10-12 and that makes it tough. You don’t want to lie to your clients.” Russell said explaining to customers the logistical issues that builders are facing with getting materials is paramount. He’s been letting clients know that their pool is going to take longer to complete, that some materials may be unavailable and that what items are available may cost more. Undoubtedly, this has produced some hard conversations, not just for Russell but for thousands of builders in a similar predicament. We asked about the ongoing labor shortages many have faced last year and wanted to know if this was still an issue for his company this year.
“When you can stay at home and not have to work and still pull a check, man there’s a lot of folks that don’t want to work. I’m not sure I want those people working for me. Skilled labor is tough.” said Russsell, sighing. “You used to be able to find guys that were willing to work. Now you’re lucky to get a crew of 3 or 4 guys together that are doing all the work. I don’t know if that’s going to get better.” The weather has also been a big challenge for the builder this season. Louisiana was recently hit by Hurricane Ida causing catastrophic damage to many of the pools under construction for hundreds of builders throughout the region.
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Predicting labor and material shortages has been hard enough. Trying to be a prognosticator of the weather is nearly impossible for even the best pool companies. “I’ve got one eye on my crews and the other eye on the weather channel. If I were to pull a job crew every time the weatherman said 60% chance of rain; that’s half the days in the calendar and I’d never get anything done,” said Russell. We asked Russell how he’s able to prevail in such daunting conditions where builders typically may spend half of the day mucking a pool out before they can even get their day started.
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Prices & Demand
CHRIS BOWEN “I don’t know how if you’re in business, you’re BY JOE TRUSTY Photos: Nick Allen Photography
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not affected by these increases,” said Chris Bowen, “we’ve seen prices go up 60-80%.”
e had the opportunity to catch up with Chris Bowen and wanted to hear how he’s positioning for new growth. We also wanted to get a pulse on what he sees going on in the DFW market and his opinion on the status of the industry down in Dallas, Texas. As one of the top pool remodeling firms in town, Bowen has unique insight as to what is going on in the industry right now in his neck of the woods.
intends to focus more on pool remodeling and new pool construction. “We sold the service side of our business in August of this year,” said Bowen. He told us he had been struggling with rising chemical costs all year. This summer he decided to sell that division of his company.
This year however has been a challenging one for many. Bowen Pools clearly is no exception to the rule in terms of those impacted by rising prices. This summer, Bowen elected to make a major change in his business. He stated he
“We’ve had shortages and price increases on everything,” said Bowen, “Hopefully when that plant down in Louisiana comes back online prices will level out.”
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“We were definitely getting killed on the pricing side of it,” said Bowen in response to why he was motivated to sell his service company.
However, the grass doesn’t seem to be much greener on the construction side of the pool industry. In terms of rising costs, materials are at an all-time high. We asked whether he had begun to push back on previous estimates he had given, to which he replied “That’s been the hardest part. We lost quite a bit of money earlier in the year.” Being a family man himself, Bowen says that having to tell his customers that their swimming pool or their pool remodeling project is going to cost more is something that he dreads. “We’ve had to go back to clients to renegotiate, but at the end of the day I need to put food on my family’s plate too,” said Bowen. In his off-hours, Bowen networks online and is peers with many different builders in the industry. He often communicates about what is
going on through a private group chat they’ve established. Bowen says that one constant topic of conversation this season has been the unpredictable price increases. He says both service and construction trades have seen huge price hikes from manufacturers and distributors. “I don’t think the Texas freeze helped matters,” said Bowen, “I believe these price increases would have occurred either way.” Referencing a storm Texas experienced in February which caused pool equipment that would have typically gone towards new construction projects to be immediately requisitioned for repair work. Experts agree that the rush for equipment in one of America’s biggest pool markets may have contributed to hoarding. This in itself would indirectly cause pricing to go up and availability to go down throughout the summer.
With a pulse on what is going on in the DFW market, Chris Bowen says what many in the pool industry are thinking; that the Covid related demand for pools may have crested.
Read the entire article... POOL MAGAZINE - VOL 1, ISSUE 1
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Southern Style
LUXURY POOL DESIGNERS Southern Poolscapes is one of the leading builders of luxury pools on the Gulf Coast. They’ve got their fingers on the pulse of what high-end homeowners want. BY MARCUS PACKER Photos: Southern Poolscapes
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hen discussing the world of luxury pools and pool designs, one can’t go very far in the conversation without bringing up gunite pools. Unquestionably, concrete inground pools offer the most versatility in terms of customization. Homeowners go all out tricking out their backyards with the latest outdoor living amenities to take their backyards to the next level. Consequently, they want their pool designs to have the latest state-of-theart technology. Builders are constantly being asked to push the envelope and incorporate pool features that complement the aesthetics of the home. Cameron Rhodes, the lead designer and co-owner of Southern Poolscapes has been designing high-end outdoor living
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If you listen to the customer they will tell you exactly what they are dreaming of.
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environments for the better part of a decade. When it comes to selecting a pool design, Rhodes said “It’s important to meet with a pool builder that understands your vision for the space. Many times, it takes a while to help homeowners articulate that into a design plan that accurately represents what their dream is.” As one of the leading luxury pool builders in the South, Rhodes has his fingers on the pulse of what pool design features homeowners want in their inground pool. “Moving water is extremely popular,” said Rhodes, “There is something truly serene about coming into the backyard and hearing the sound of a waterfall or sheer descent running. That ambient sound is very peaceful and adds to the overall atmosphere and ambiance in a high-end custom pool.” In terms of what luxury homeowners are adding to their pool, Rhodes replied, “We’ve seen more and more homeowners requesting massive tanning ledges. Many of these folks have a family with small children and these ledges provide a larger shallow area
to enjoy time in the pool with younger more inexperienced swimmers. Plus when coupled with a set of ledge loungers, the effect is pretty impressive,” said Rhodes. “We are also seeing more homeowners looking for a cleaner more refined look to their inground pool,” said Rhodes, “We’re doing a lot of perimeter overflow projects where you get that seamless sheet of glass look when the waterline is flush with the coping.” As far as outdoor living amenities go, Rhodes says that homeowners are going all out on high-end materials, despite the rising costs that we’ve seen across the board this season. “By and large people want a beautiful outdoor living environment,” said Rhodes, “We’re seeing more customers add on pavilions, outdoor kitchens, firepits, and go all out on their landscaping. It goes to show their mindset; that if they’re stuck at home, they are going to make sure that their backyard is definitely some place that they want to be.”
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The Modern Pool
CHUCK BAUMANN BY JOE TRUSTY
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huck Baumann is the president of Creative Environments, one of the leading Bay Area Design/ Build firms for luxury inground swimming pools and high-end custom backyards. He’s a pioneer in the world of luxury pools and has been at the forefront of modern pool design for the better part of four decades. We had the opportunity to catch up with him and talked about
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how he got his start building pools, and what trajectory he sees our industry headed towards over the next few years. Learning the trade at a young age, Baumann had been working alongside his father since the age of 5. During his high school years, he took the initiative to learn the business in earnest. It was a natural step for the enterprising teen to look to start his own company.
POOL MAGAZINE - VOL 1, ISSUE 1
learn the business in earnest. It was a natural step for the enterprising teen to look to start his own company. When Baumann began his tenure in the pool world; like many in the industry, he first got his start cleaning and maintaining swimming pools. Having come from a family entrenched in the pool industry (three of his family members owned a pool business), Baumann started his very first pool company when he was just 16 years old while at the same time working in his father’s pool retail store. While some kids his age were busy tending to their paper routes delivering newspapers to homeowners, Baumann was tending to their swimming pools.
“My era of pool builders really started pushing the bar in terms of design.” Continuing to learn the trade and expand his skill set, he started a second pool company called Creative Environments in 1979. “At the time of creating that pool company; there really wasn’t any other pool contractor thinking about anything in the backyard other than the swimming pool, that was their dog in the fight,” explained Baumann.
“I realized it was all about the entertainment and the lifestyle that having a swimming pool in the backyard created for folks,” said Baumann, explaining where the name ‘Creative Environments’ came from. His intention with giving his firm that company name was to resonate that they handled every aspect of creating a completely custom pool and outdoor living environment. “From day one, I went out and found landscape architects to team up with and remember this is 42 years ago so this was pretty revolutionary at the time,” said Baumann. “Instead of taking out a template, we started thinking about how the patio interacted with the pool and how other elements such as sun decks,
fire pits, and pavilions incorporated the lifestyle of the client,” explained Baumann. During the span of four decades, Creative Environments has been responsible for building over 1,500 custom pools and backyards for homeowners in the California San Francisco Bay Area. Baumann explained how each project is a unique undertaking. “You have uniquely different clients and settings and topography to work around,” said Baumann. For him, the opportunity to change homeowners’ perception of what a swimming pool could be put him on par with other pioneers who were revolutionizing and changing the way pools and patio areas functioned together.
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Photos Courtesy of Creative Environments
“The pools of my father’s era were all onedimensional. There were no water features that incorporated sound, texture, and lighting into the pool. Along comes my era of pool builders and we started really pushing the envelope and raising the bar in terms of design and construction techniques.” said Baumann.
The backyard amenities and features going into these pools began to correlate to a much higher price tag than those sold in the ‘50s and ‘60s. “In my father’s era when he ran his pool company, his average pool sold for around $2,000. The pools I sell today go for upwards north of $200,000,” said Baumann.
Baumann recalls that all through the 1950s and 60’s production pool builders had put a stamp on what an inground swimming pool should look like. It wouldn’t be until the 1970s, that more uniquely shaped pools with completed custom backyards really began to take hold.
Creative Environments was one of the first pioneers to incorporate many of the pool and outdoor living features we see in the backyards of high-end homes today.
The ability to purchase that type of luxury brought validation. To many Americans, building your own swimming pool meant that you had “made it”. It was during this era Baumann explained that swimming pools began their transformation to resemble the more modern pools of today.
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Baumann also credits visionaries like Vance Gillette for not only inspiring him but opening the pool industry’s eyes to the fact that homeowners were looking for a more cohesive outdoor living environment. The incredible changes over the last few decades have helped to incorporate the swimming pool area in a completely new way which has helped propel the entire industry as a whole.
While that validation story may still be true today, there has been another force at play over the past two years. Covid-19 has certainly amplified the demand and been a force multiplier in terms of the number of leads that pool companies are getting today. “That dynamic has changed our business model,” said Baumann. “The interest has always been there when I study the demographics of who buys a swimming pool in our industry; there’s a particular age group. The standard demographics of pool buyers are an active couple in their late 30’s to early ‘50s with a family of children 5-15 years old.”
One thing that has blocked the industry from being able to capitalize on the white-hot interest in pools has been the ongoing shortages. There has also been a mass influx of new freshmen pool companies looking to grab a piece of all this new consumer interest. “I think it behooves all of us to make sure that we keep the momentum going.” said Baumann, “We do that by being professionals at our craft. It’s easy to go out and say ‘I’m a pool builder’ because the market is hot right now. What we really need to do is be as professional as we can be and that professionalism is going to perpetuate through our industry. “ One major resource that has enabled Baumann to stay ahead of the many shortages and delays affecting the industry has been his close personal relationships with vendors and suppliers established through the Carecraft group (one of the industry’s leading organizations for pool professionals). It’s been Creative Environment’s long-standing relationships and strong network that have enabled them to maintain the status quo throughout the last two years; even when so many have struggled to do so.
HIGHER QUALITY POOL LEADS ONLY $24.95 There is no denying that Covid-19 has correlated in a spike in swimming pool and hot tub sales throughout the world. One contributing factor has been a lack of competition for funds that typically may have been spent on a vacation. “I think we’ve been very fortunate to be the recipient of those discretionary dollars. The majority of it is being invested in the home. As an industry, we’ve been very fortunate,” said Baumann.
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any pool contractors are currently “underwater” on projects that they sold months in advance of starting work. COVID related price increases, labor shortages and supply chain issues have driven the cost of construction above their contract price. To avoid bankruptcy many have had to revise contract pricing, much to the chagrin of their clients. There are legal precedents which allow a party to the contract to modify the terms and pricing, if there are significant forces that prevent them from meeting their contractual obligations. In simple terms, the court will not force a seller (pool builder) to perform, when the cost of the raw materials has risen to the point of losing money on the project. The same in reverse hold true, if a property owner has lost their source of income, the court will not force them to build a pool.
These are the basic principles of “force majeure” and “commercial impracticability,” found in the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), section 2-615. The UCC is the framework which governs business transactions and contracts, though they may vary slightly from state to state. KEEPING POOL CONTRACTORS OUT OF THE COURTROOM A client contacted a pool contractor, wanting a bid to perform repair work on a job completed by another contractor. The client said they were not pursuing litigation or making an insurance claim – they just want the project fixed correctly. If you find yourself in this situation – tread carefully. ONLY provide a written estimate of your proposed repairs and your installation specifications.
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Navigating Legal PAOLO BENEDETTI Oftentimes, once the client receives the estimated cost of repairs, they will change their mind about litigation or filing an insurance claim against the original contractor. If you made statements about the cause of any failures, quality of the workmanship or code compliance, it will come back to haunt you. The pool contractor was subpoenaed to appear in court, to repeat the verbal & written statements he made about the causation and workmanship. He was also only compensated at a rate predetermined by the court – less than minimum wage, like a juror. He was also sued
Op Editorial
by the original contractor for slander & libel, due to some false assumptions he made and had expressed about the failure. It is human nature to want to impress people with our knowledge. But, this is the time to “bite your lip.” It is best to listen to the client’s complaint, take diligent notes & copious pictures and prepare a repair estimate back in the office. Do not discuss the workmanship or the suspected cause of any failure. Perform a thorough inspection, forensic evaluation or testing and render a written opinion – for a fee. Stay out of the courtroom, by learning what not to say.
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ecently I was called out to come look at a pool for remediation of a water loss issue. The homeowner had already contracted to strip it. The pool was demoed 4 weeks before he called me.
The porosity of the shell was evident along with the lack of coverage over the steel. The pool I was looking at was a perfect example of why you should follow ASA and ACI guidelines. There have been some recent social media posts about shotcrete application being done incorrectly. There has also been some push back about ensuring that ASA and ACI guidelines are followed. Just because you don’t have a structural crack does not mean your shotcrete was done correctly. Structural cracks are caused by under engineered pools in bad soil, soil settlement, and lack of rebar in ratio to concrete. Not caring about putting rebound or wall trimmings in the floor, the strength of the air compressor, the application of good nozzle techniques, the PSI of the concrete, keeping track of the concrete coming out of the truck and water curing all contribute to a porous and under strength shell. Floors and coves need to shot first so rebound and trimmings can be shoveled out. Trimmings and rebound are not shot concrete and letting them fall on top of the floor that you just shot is not an acceptable practice. They need to be shoveled out. There was a discussion in Ask The Masters. A person stressed it’s the water to cement ratio that gives concrete water tightness which is true. But let’s be field practical. Most ready mix plants or dry shotcrete nozzle men can’t get a perfect .45 W/C ratio.
ASA & ACI Rules GRANT SMITH
Op Editorial
The shotcrete crew will invariably add water while you are in the back supervising the shot. The higher PSI concrete will have less water in it to begin with so that helps keep the W/C in check. Plus the higher PSI concrete just has more cement paste in it which also helps with the density of the concrete.
The great thing about shotcrete is that it slams concrete paste and aggregate together which creates a more dense finished product. If you have ever done cast in place walls or piers you vibrate the concrete to make it more dense and and get out the air pockets and encapsulate the rebar. Shotcrete has the same effect.
For the few hundred dollars it costs to raise up the PSI in your shell you are doing your client a favor. And if the client says your shocrete price is higher then educate them on why the price is higher. Pretty simple. 250CFM air compressors for wet mix and 650CFM for dry mix to insure the density of the concrete.
Remember the denser the concrete the more water tight it will be. Water curing is essential to keep concrete hydrated while it is curing. By keeping the shell cool and moist it will retain more water that was in the mix to begin with. This helps with denser concrete. It will also help with shrinkage cracks.
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Say “NO” To
FREE POOL DESIGNI BY MARCUS PACKER Photos: Joe Trusty
P
ool design has changed dramatically over the last decade. In the past, builders either did a hand drawing or used a series of stencils to quickly come up with a pool design concept. It’s only been within the last decade that pool companies felt the need to begin incorporating free designs into their sales process. In years past this had become a common practice. Builders created advertisements with tag lines like “Get a FREE Design” to attract homeowners, hoping to sell them a pool and gave the designs away for free.
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One thing that the pandemic has done is reignite an interest in swimming pools the likes of which has never been seen. The days of having to go that route and give away a valuable service like design are behind us. Builders no longer have to do that to entice homeowners. These days everyone and their mother-in-law wants a pool. It’s time to start saying no to free design. A decade ago using 3D design presentations was considered a differentiator. Over the past 10 years that perception has changed. These days the majority of large pool companies
A Pool or Landscape Designer Spent: Months, possibly years learning design software Thousands of dollars on hardware & software. Countless sleepless nights refining their design skills. Years of hard work building their reputation as a designer.
STOP GIVING AWAY FREE DESIGNS! incorporate some aspect of 3D design as part of their sales process. Homeowners have come to expect a 3D rendering and their tolerance for quality is quite high given the status of the technology available today.
Southern Poolscapes. “We’ve gotten away from doing free designs a while ago. Honestly, with the amount of folks that want an inground pool right now, you really don’t need to be doing that anymore.”
Even when using cutting edge technology like Pool Studio, a design could take anywhere from hours to even days or weeks to complete depending on how elaborate the design plan is.
There is a growing consensus in the pool industry to do away with free designs. Many feel giving designs away for free commoditizes and devalues the creativity and labor involved. The price tag associated with allowing that to continue during this climate when pools are practically selling themselves is unfathomable. If you are still offering free designs, you should probably stop.
Accommodating every single prospect that could conceivably want a pool this season with a 3D design was impossible says Cameron Rhodes, co-owner of
A pool designer may spend days or weeks completing a backyard design for a customer. Read the entire article...
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W
e have some great plans on growing Pool Magazine over the coming months to include even more great featured articles, videos, and webinars that interact with the leading voices in the pool and spa industry. These days, everything is digital. There is no denying that it’s a fast paced online world we’re living in, news happens at an instant. Pool Magazine’s digital publication aims to be a to-the-minute news source for what is going on in the pool world. We’re pleased to be able to put the very first issue of our new publication in your hands in time for one of the biggest shows in the industry. Get to know Pool Magazine a little better. Visit our online publication and news platform at www.poolmagazine.com We’re also attending the PSP/Deck Expo and will be in Booth #1624 in the Genesis Pavilion. If you’ve enjoyed this issue of Pool Magazine, we’d love it if you stopped by and introduced yourself. We’re always eager to connect with folks in the industry.
Thank You
FOR YOUR SUPPORT This issue of Pool Magazine would not be possible without the continued support of our friends, patrons, and associates. We’d like to thank our platinum sponsors Viking Capital & Basecrete.
Become a Supporter of Pool Magazine HAVE YOU CHECKED OUT THE POOL MAGAZINE PODCAST YET?
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SHOW YOUR SUPPORT! Want to show your support for Pool Magazine? Join us on Patreon for VIP member benefits, merchandise and a subscription to the quarterly printed version of Pool Magazine.
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Contact Rebound Pool Surfaces Today! support@reboundpools.com or Visit reboundpools.com POOL MAGAZINE - VOL 1, ISSUE 1
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Best Business Software for
RUNNING YOUR POOL COMPANY
When it comes to running your pool company, it helps to know which software the pros are all using to run their businesses. BY MARCUS PACKER Photo: Volodymyr
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BEST CRM FOR SALES TEAMS
BEST BUNDLED OFFICE SOFTWARE
Whether you have a small sales team or a large organization, Hubspot enables you with sophisticated lead tracking, reporting, and sales tools that give you instant visibility of where leads are in the sales cycle.
Doing business is easier with the right tools. Give all of your team members powerful office applications with Microsoft Office 365’s most popular standard applications like Excel, Word, Powerpoint & Outlook.
www.hubspot.com
www.office365.com
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BEST FOR POOL CONSTRUCTION
BEST FOR FLEET MANGEMENT
BEST PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Job Nimbus is becoming more popular with pool contractors due to it’s all-in-one integration as a CRM system and construction management utility. Coupled with accounting integrations, it’s a full featured software that appeals to pool builders.
Fleetio is popular with pool companies looking for a sophisticated fleet tracking and route optimization software for pool companies with lots of vehicles and equipment. Attractive price point puts fleet management at your fingertips for a low monthly fee.
Running a successful organization requires best in class project management tools to ensure that deadlines don’t get missed and balls don’t get dropped. Asana enables organizations to assign projects, tasks and deliverables to team members with astonishing ease.
www.jobnimbus.com
www.fleetio.com
www.asana.com
BEST FOR POOL SERVICE TECHS
BEST APP FOR GROUPS & TEAMS
BEST TOOL FOR FILE SHARING
Routely is incredibly popular with larger pool service companies that have a high number of pools to manage. Routely makes it’s easy to manage pools, employees, leads, and billing at a great price point.
Slack allows you to create group chats and threaded conversations between teams. Easily share files, documents, and synchronizes with many of the most popular apps out there. A must for large teams.
Store large files in the cloud, not your hard drive! Quickly send files from your online storage with ease. Tons of digital storage for files, documents, photos, videos, you name it. People are putting it in Dropbox.
www.routely.com
www.slack.com
www.dropbox.com
BEST ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE
BEST DIGITAL FORMS & SURVEYS
BEST SCHEDULING SOFTWARE
Always at the top of the list when it comes to comprehensive accounting software, there is no better choice than Quickbooks. A fully featured accounting suite that syncs with many popular payment processors.
Looking for a way to create highly customized forms and digital documents? Want a way to easily capture form data while out in the field? Formsite is the answer to all of your prayers for digital forms.
Allow your customers to self schedule with you based off of your calendar availability. Calendly helps pool companies book more appointments and easily syncs with iCalendar and Google calendar.
www.quickbooks.com
www.formsite.com
www.calendly.com
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Chemical Outlook
‘21 REPORT The chlorine shortages the pool industry has faced over the last two years might be far from over. Find out what pool professionals are doing to deal with ongoing price increases. BY JOE TRUSTY Photos: Adobe Stock Photo
T
he future looks pretty uncertain at this point in time on how much chlorine will cost in 2022. Industry professionals are already bracing for more more bad news. It’s anticipated that manufacturers will announce further price increases this fall. Experts say that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to rationalize all the increases to customers. Recently we co-hosted a Town Hall discussion on the Talking Pools podcast. Various professionals representing different aspects of the industry, from service to construction to distribution were discussing how the ongoing shortages and price increases were impacting their day to day operations. Jeremy Hine of Florida Leisure Pool & Spa said, “Everybody wants a pool. We’ve sold all our slots available for 2022 to build one. Now the challenge is actually getting materials and components for executing the construction projects.” Hine, who operates off of a flat rate bidding process doesn’t charge for time
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BIOLAB REOPENING WILL BE DELAYED plus materials. As a result, he said that he’s wound up upside down on a few jobs. “Bidding a pool all the way into 2023, we’ve gambled and hope that we won’t have to eat too much on our package price pools,” said Hine.
Prices for dry chlorine products are not anticipated to level out until the reopening of the BioLab plant in Louisiana. Hurricane Ida however, has delayed construction efforts.
Korey Wax of Alpha West said he doesn’t see supply issues getting better right away. “Pool companies are relying on the relationships with individual branches,” said Wax, “The people that are really suffering are the guys that don’t have a relationship because they’ve been ordering off a web portal. When they go into a random branch, the manager and counter guys don’t recognize that individual so those supplies are magically not there because supplies are being reserved for their core customers. Rudy Stankowitz, who was moderating the discussion said, “If you’re trying to estimate costs, right now it’s a total guess. We know everything is going up across the board. Prices are jumping dramatically in a short amount of time. I just can’t tell you what it’s going to cost to clean your pool this year.”
Prices for dry chlorine products have dramatically gone up since last pool season and are predicted to increase next year as well. Experts say that consumers need to become more familiar with other methods to help them reduce chlorine demand. POOL MAGAZINE - VOL 1, ISSUE 1
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RETAIL PRICES FOR DRY CHLORINE SOARED UP TO 70% THIS SEASON.
In terms of lowering chemical usage to sanitize pools; there are certainly some tried and true products available on the market. The problem it seems, is making consumers and professionals aware that alternatives exist. “We need to see more education in the enzyme sanitizer, mineral sanitizer world,” said Wax, “This is the time for companies like Sigura, BioDex, PoolRx, and NC Brands to really step up and put forth the education into the marketplace about what their products do.”
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“This is the time to explain to guys that aren’t using an enzyme in their pools and are just forward dosing with chlorine and freaking out because they can’t find that same chlorine. We’ve got to be smarter. The data is out there. The ROI is out there. You can use up to 50% less chlorine.” Andrea Nannini, owner of Hibiscus Pool & Spa and co-host of the Talking Pools podcast, said she’s been making enzymes part of her protocol for managing pools. “I’ve used PoolRx and Blueray XL. Things like that definitely help.”
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“One of the ways you can actually stretch the chemicals you’re using in the pool is to add automation,” said Stankowitz, “you don’t realize how much chlorine is actually being used up unnecessarily. The same thing with acid. Your salt cell would love you if you added automation. You’d see a lot less flaking or pool dandruff.”
Listen to the Podcast...
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Learn more about Viking Capital at www.poolloan.net.
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